When I bought my iPhone 12 Pro, I did it with gritted teeth: as much as I love it, it was the most money I've ever spent on a phone – and because I bought it on day one on contract, it's the most expensive iPhone contract deal I've ever had too.
I've skipped the iPhone 13 Pro because I really can't afford it, so I hope this story from our pals at Techradar turns out to be misinformed, as it reckons that the iPhone 14 prices are going to be higher than the iPhone 13 ones.
And, well, sigh...
iPhone 14 prices: the good news and the bad
According to the latest iPhone 14 leak, the standard iPhone 14 will cost the same as the iPhone 13: $799 in the US, which is £779 in the UK and AU$1,349 in Australia. As expected, there's no iPhone mini in the line-up this year.
However, there is a new addition: the iPhone 14 Max, which is $899. That sits between the iPhone 14 and the iPhone 14 Pro, and is not the same as the iPhone 14 Pro Max. The relatively small difference in price makes us think it's going to be a slightly larger iPhone 14.
While the iPhone 14 Max is interesting, the same leak says that the Pro and Pro Max are getting more expensive: $100 more in each case, taking their starting price to $1099 and $1199 respectively. Without taking tax into account, that works out as roughly £75 or AU$140 more for each model.
Whether by accident or design – and the likelihood of Apple doing anything by accident seems rather unlikely to me – the iPhone 14 Max disguises the much larger price gap between the iPhone and its Pro and Pro Max models; without it the difference in price would look much more dramatic. I'm hoping that the extra money means something extra in the specification, but as the leak blames "production costs" for the hike I'm not holding my breath.
It's worth pointing out that the leaker here, LeaksApplePro, doesn't have the same stellar track record as other more prominent Apple leakers – so for now I'm taking this with a pinch of salt, because we're still many months from the iPhone 14 launch.
But it's probably wise to start saving if you're planning an iPhone 14 Pro or Pro Max this year, just to be on the safe side.
